When U.S. Chamber of Commerce President Tom Donohue concluded his last trip to Cuba in 1999, he sold us the following bill-of-goods, via The Cato Institute:

"One thing Cuba must do is allow its private sector to grow. This would help open Cuban society and help the Cuban economy. We want to be the catalyst for this change. For that reason, we hope Congress will give us a hand and support legislation to exempt food and medical sales from unilateral sanctions as soon as possible."

First, we commend Donohue for (at least) having correctly lobbied Congress to change the codified policy, as opposed to asking the Clinton Administration (at the time) to circumvent the law.